Door-latch.



C. S. BOOTH.

DOOR LQTCH. APPLICATION man APR. 20, ms.

Patented Nov. 26, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I Lal CZRM'MMH HH ill C. S. BOOTH DOOR LATCH. APPLICATION FILED APR; 20- H8 Ptented Nov. 26, 1918'.

2 SHEETSSHEEI 2.

siding at'Camp Point,

Adams and'State of Illinois, have invented UN TED snare crrnrsrornnn s. scorn, or oars re Point, rumors.

Specification of Letters Patent.

noon-Lawn.

Application filed April 20, leis. Serial 1%. 229,354.]

To-dZZ whom it may 50mm Be it known that I, CHRISTOPHER S. B oorn', a citizen of the United States. re-

in the county of certaininew and useful Improvements in Door-Latches, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvementsin door latches and has especial reference to latches ada' One of the objects of my invention is to provide a .door latch for doors, when used over the roughest roads.

Another: object is to provide a latch, all parts of which are invisible and that cannot be manipulated by children or other persons unacquaint ed with its mode of opera- -"tion. I

-A1id still another object of my invention is the production of a latch that will discourage the destructive habit of slamming the door but which will catch andhold the doorwhen slammed.

Other and further objects of my invention will become readily apparent, to persons skilled in the art, from a consideration of thefollowing description when talren in conjunction with the drawings, wh.ere1n:

Figure 1 shows the outline of an auto-v mobile with my door latch attached thereto.

Fig.2 is an enlairged section through the door. taken on line 22 of igr3, showing the inclosed latch and its operating mechm. I. a

3 ,i asection taken onllne 3-3 of Fig.4:

. Fig. is a section taken on line H of iiall' the views the same reference characters; are employed to indicate similar parts fl e 5 is an automobile, of the conventional type showing doors 6 and 7; 8 is the hand movable element 7 or" the latch which is adapted to be grasped by the hand and pressed inwardly in opening the door. Thls pted for doors of automobiles, andth'e like. I

portion of the latch may be covered the usual leather shield, connnonly used on auto: mobiles, to protect the upper surface of the door when grasped by the hand. 1 Y,

The door of an automobile is usually hollow between side walls 9 and 1 0. In the present embodiment the wall '10 is continued at right angles, as at 11, partway across the inclosed space at the top of the door. A section 8, movable to operate the latch, is cut from the panel, and includes a vertical wall 12 and a laterally extending wall 13. The wall 13 is above, the wall 11 of the relatively stationary part and is adapted to be moved inwardly toward the wall 10 when the upper part of the door is grasped by the hand and pressure is applied. The panel 8 may be covered by a leather shield 14 to obscure the. joint between the walls 9 and 12.

Cross pieces 15 and 16 are secured to the P m QF I E-j or it may be below,

Patented'Nov.26,191$,

side walls 9 and 10, the piece 15 is also secured to the end wall 17. A rectangular shaped lever 18, is pivoted to the pieces 15 and 16, as at 19 and 20, respectively, sothat the lever has a free, transverse movement be,- tween the walls. The lever 18 contracted inf dimension somewhat, near the top, as at 21,;

and is curved to the left, viewing it in Fig. 2, as at 22, and is connected to the vertical Wall 12 of the movable latch-operating mem-i her 8, as shown clearly in Fig. 2. A long leaf-spring 23 bears upon the upper end of the lever 18, as at '24, and isfixed to the cross member 15, as at 25. The tension of this spring yieldingly holds the lever in posiion so that the vertical wall 9 is held in vertical alinement with the wall 12 and the spring is such as to yieldingly returntheparts '8 to their normal position, shown in Fig. 2, when the member 8 is released. A

has an extension at right angles to the body part, as at 30, provided with a hook 31 that Y 105 J 33 of the spring 32 is connected to the lever 1 is engaged by a spring 32. v The mid-portion 25, as at 34. The under, or lower portion of the spring 32, is returned and is also '-j=; them until the end 27 of the lever 25 makes if below the lever 25. This spring yieldingly.

connected to the hook 30 of the lever 28 tends to hold the levers 18 and 25 in mutual contact and it furthermore holds the outer tapered end 36, on the lever 28, extended.

.While the spring 32 may be sufficient to hold the levers 18 and 25 in yielding contact, another spring 37, may be employed supplementary to the spring 32. The spring 37 is secured to the lever 18, as at-38, and

extends upwardly and engages a pin 39 that depends from the lever 25. A latch plate 40 is fixed in the door jamb 41, and is provided near its outside end with a relatively deep notch 42, and a supplemental, somewhat shallower notch 43. In

hand of the operator grasps the movable 'latcho erating panel 8 and the immovable part 0 the door opposite the panel, in this instance the wall 10, and moves the movable panel 8 from the outside. inwardly. The

first effect of this operation is tomove the upper end of the lever 18 inwardlv toward the wall 10. This carries with it-the lever and also, bodily, the latch lever 28. The.

.front end 36 of the latch lever does not, -.f" -however, entirely leave the notch 12 in the atch plate 40, in which it is contained, un-

{ftil the end 27 of the lever 25 makes contact with the relatively stationary wall 10,

" whereupon further movement of the lever 18, bearing upon the outturned end of the latch ver 28 moves the lever on the pivot 29 and causes the front end 36 to move laterally out of the notch 42, whereupon the.

door may be opened.

To close the door the hand must again grasp the door, over the part 8, and move the latter inwardly, causing the outer end 36 of the latch lever 28 to be moved inwardly on its pivot 29, whereupon the door maybe closed, and when the hand moved panel 8 is released, the springs 23, 32 and 39 will move the parts back into. their normal position, shown in Fig. lVhen the door is open, and the panel 8 is released, the front end 36 of the latch lever, will extend so far toward the wall 9 of the door that it will notenter the deep notch 12 when the door is slammed. To cause the front end 36 of the latch lever to enter the notch 42 it is necessary that the levers-18 and 25 should be moved farther toward the wall and move the latch lever 28 bodily with "j", contact with the wall 10, then the lever 18 will bear sufficiently upon the end 30 of the latch lever to move it ou of its latched po sition. When the door is slammed, the latch lever will engage the shallow notch 43, which is the'supplementary notch. Before the door. can be completely closed to cause the latch lever 28 to engage the deeper notch 12 it is necessary to press the panel 8 inwardly so that the latch lever 28 will be bodily moved in that direction, whereupon the curved end 36 will snap into the notch 12, after the panel 8 is released.

\Vhen the door is closed'and latched, as in the position shown in Fig. 3, the springs tend to yieldingly maintain the door in that position, and if pressureis applied against the inner wall 10 of the door, it will move out slightly until the end 27 of the lever 25 makes contact with the inner surface of the wall 10 whereupon the door, thusbeing resisted, will not move farther by any reasonable pressure applied Within the compartment closed by the door, and therefore any tendency to rattling by the door is thus reslStBCl by the springs which control the latch. hile I have herein shown and described a single embodiment of my invention for the purpose of clear disclosure, it'ismanifest that many changes may be made therein within the spirit of the invention and scope of the appended claims.

Having described my invention, what I claim is:-

1. In combination with an automobile tonneau having a door hinged to open outwardly, of a latch, to hold the door closed and a latch actuator substantially flush with the outside surface of the door and extending to the upper edge thereof movable in a direction to close. the door for retracting said latch to open the door.

2. In combination with an automobile tonneau having a double wall door hinged to open outwardly, of a spring latch within the walls of the door to hold the door'closed and a panel, substantially flush with the outside wall of the door and extending to the upper edge thereof, supported by a latch-actuating member, and a latch actuating member movable toward the inner wall of'the door to operate the latch to open the door.

3. In combination with an automobile tonn'eau having a double wall door hinged at one vertical edge to open outwardly; a spring latch automatically operable to hold the door closed; a vertically extending lever inside the door to actuate the latch; a panel in the outer wall of the door extending substantially to the top thereof and supported on said latch actuating lever whereby pressure on the panel to move it inwartilly of the door toward the interior of the tonneau will retract the latch.

4. In combination with an automobile door, having parallel side walls with the outer wall cut away near the top to receive a panel: a latch within the door between said walls and a panel within the cutaway part movable inwardly toward the interior of the space closed by the door to operate the latch.

5. In combination with an automobile door, having parallel side walls and adjoining upper walls 'with part of the outer and upper wall cut away at the top to receive a panel; a latch within the door between the walls and a panel within the out awa part movable inwardly to operate the latch.

6. In combination with anautomobile door, a latch having a'latch-bolt pivoted to a movable part; a latch-operating lever for moving said part and said bolt on their respective pivots; a stop for said movable part, whereby to bodily move said latch with said movable part until the stop is encountered and subsequently to move said latch on its pivot to withdraw the latch from its outstanding position.

7. In combination with an automobile door having a jamb against which it closes; a pivoted latch member carried by the door; alatch plate in the jamb having a recess to receive the end of the latch and a part to oppose the movement of the latch on its pivot, and a latch-operating means for bodil; moving said latch member axially and partway out of said recess and subsequently on its pivot, entirely out of said recess.

8. In combination with an automobile door; a lever 18 pivoted therein and extending to a point near the top of the door; a panel 8 cut from one wall of the door and secured to the lever; a pivoted lever 25, hearing a latch member 28, pivoted thereto, as at 29; a stop, 10, for the end, 27, of lever, 25; a spring, 32, for yieldingly holding the free end of the latch lever extended from the door; a latch plate, 40, having a notch 42 to receive the free end of the latch lever, the arrangement being such that the'latch lever 28 is bodily and axially moved until the end .2? encounters the stop 10, whereupon further movement of the lever 18 will cause the free end of the latch lever to leave the recess in which it is received in the janib, and a spring to return the lever, 18, to its normal position.

9. In combination with a hollow automobile tonneau, a door having parallel side walls and a top wall and having a part out out of the outside wall and the top wall, to receive a panel: an inwardly movable panel in said opening, normally flush with the outside wall; a latch within the door; a lever connected to the latch and panel, to retract the latch by moving the panel inwardly of the tonneau, and a spring to move the parts to normal position when the panel is released.

10. In combination with an automobile tonneau, a door; a latch mechanism within the door and means flush with the outside wall of the door and extending to the top thereof, movable inwardly toward the tonneau to withdraw the latch to open the door.

In testimony whereof I hereunto set my hand.

CHRIST OPHER S. BOOTH. 

